“According to the new sworn declaration, Sondland told Congress that his memory was ‘refreshed’ after reviewing the opening statements given to Congress by Bill Taylor, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, a former adviser to Trump on Russian and European affairs.”

I’m guessing that the possible criminal perjury charge was also highly refreshing.

At any rate:

“Sondland said he also now remembered a Sept. 1 conversation in Warsaw with Andriy Yermak, a top Zelenskiy adviser, in which he told Yermak that “the resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks.” He also said that soon after, he “came to understand” the statement would have to come from Zelenskiy himself. And then, no, corruption isn’t enough, we need to talk about the 2016 election and the Burisma investigations.”

“After previously refusing to cooperate with the probe, Ukrainian-American businessman and Rudy Giuliani crony Lev Parnas has signaled that he’s now willing to work with impeachment investigators, including responding to requests for records and testimony.”

He apparently changed his mind about co-operation when Trump publicly declared that he didn’t know Parnas. It seems that Mr. Parnas thinks that he and The Donald were buds.

Don’t get your hopes too high for some juicy revelations. Because much of his activity was illegal, and he is facing active criminal charges in that regard, Parnas would probably spend much of his congressional testimony pleading the Fifth. It’s not impossible that his lawyers can cut him some kind of sweetheart deal, but it doesn’t seem to be in the cards at this moment.

“Despite low national approval ratings and the specter of impeachment, President Trump remains highly competitive in the battleground states likeliest to decide his re-election”

The Times evaluated six battleground states that went for Trump in 2016.

* While Trump trails Biden, four states to one, with one toss-up, all six are still within his grasp.

* In contrast, Warren’s farther-left approach has not proved appealing in these purple states. Trump is beating her in three states to her one, with two loss-ups, and Warren’s one lead is within the margin of error.

* A significant fact is that Warren is weaker than Biden in all six of the states which may well determine the election. Warren plays especially poorly in Michigan and Florida.